South Korean chicken burger chain Mom’s Touch is searching for a new owner following its delisting from the nation’s second bourse Kosdaq on Tuesday. Its largest shareholder, local private equity firm Korea F&B Holdings, plans to buy shares at 62,000 won apiece for the next six months in order to protect minority shareholders. Following its delisting, industry watchers say sell-off talks are also expected to gain momentum. “Listed companies have legal obligations suc

Consumer June 3, 2022

South Korea’s e-commerce giant Coupang topped the list of the largest employers here last year, adding almost 30,000 new jobs in the year alone, according to industry data released Thursday. According to market tracker Korea CXO Institute, Coupang hired 29,361 new employees in 2021, with its total workforce standing at 72,763. The figure made up almost half the total 63,740 new hires made by the nation’s 76 largest companies with assets over 5 trillion won ($3.9 billion) last ye

Industry June 2, 2022

South Korean real estate platform Rsquare said Thursday it has collected over 65,000 pieces of commercial real estate data in Singapore, officially launching its business in the major Asia-Pacific hub. The company has compiled both quantitative and qualitative data on office buildings, hotels, distribution centers, factories and other commercial buildings in Singapore’s principal districts. “Just like in South Korea and Vietnam, our employees went on foot, visited office buildings

Technology June 2, 2022

South Korean tech giant Kakao said Wednesday that it will revise its Metaverse Work System that would allow employees to work remotely but connect them online at all times, after it drew ire over excessive monitoring. Kakao CEO Namkoong Whon said in an announcement to staff that he will consider changing the ground rules, including those involving mandatory real-time voice calls among colleagues and set working hours. “After the beta test of the new work system, team members can vote on

Technology June 1, 2022

Monthly lease contracts exceeded half of South Korea’s home rentals and surpassed “jeonse” transactions for the first time in April, government data showed Tuesday, mostly due to greater debt burden sparked by soaring interest rates on loans. Of the total 258,313 lease transactions for apartments and houses, 50.4 percent of them were for monthly rentals in April, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Jeonse contracts -- a lump-sum returnable deposit

Economy May 31, 2022

Tech giant Naver said Monday that it has officially launched an artificial intelligence-based call service for older people who live alone. The service, Clova AI Contact Center Solution, is operated by the company’s AI technology Hyperclova, which calls and checks up on users about their eating habits, sleeping patterns and potential health problems. The AI has adopted high-quality voice synthesis and voice recognition engines to allow for seamless conversation with users, as if they ar

Technology May 30, 2022

Millie’s Library, one of South Korea’s largest e-book subscription platform, said Sunday that it is set for a market debut by the end of this year. The company filed a preliminary prospectus on Friday stating that it will offer 2 million common shares out of the total 8,234,901 shares. If the initial public offering process goes as planned, it will be the country’s first e-book platform to go public. Its shares are poised to start trading on the Korea Exchange’s second

Technology May 29, 2022

Hanwha Solutions CEO Kim Dong-kwan attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as the only entrepreneur among President Yoon Suk-yeol’s delegation, the energy-to-material firm said Thursday. During the four-day forum which started Monday, Kim met with Daniel Yergin, vice chairman of S&P Global, and discussed the Russia-Ukraine war’s impact on the energy industry and geopolitical dynamics, according to Hanwha Solutions. Kim also helped arrange a meeting between fo

Industry May 26, 2022

With Millennials and Generation Z -- those born from the 1980s onward -- emerging as major players in the luxury industry, South Korea ranked No. 10 in high-end fashion transactions last year, a report showed Wednesday According to Samjong KPMG, a Seoul-based consulting firm, the country’s luxury goods market size soared on-year by 29.6 percent to $5.8 billion in 2021. By 2024, it is projected to exceed $7 billion. Foreign luxury brands in major department stores in South Korea have see

Consumer May 25, 2022

South Korean retail giant Lotte Group said Tuesday it is poised to inject 38 trillion won ($30 billion) over the next five years in the new growth-engine sectors -- health and wellness, mobility, and sustainability -- and core industry segments including chemical, retail and travel business. Following its recent announcement to enter the biomedical contract development and manufacturing organization business, the company will pour some 1 trillion won into building a new bio factory in the coun

Consumer May 24, 2022

For the next three years, South Korean tech giant Kakao and SK Square, the ICT arm of conglomerate SK Group, will be banned from expanding their designated driver service business to make room for small and midsized enterprises entering the market, the Korea Commission for Corporate Partnership said Tuesday. Other large corporations seeking to start chauffeur services are prohibited from entering the industry worth 3 trillion won ($2.4 billion) in the cited period as well. Although the decisi

Mobility May 24, 2022

Moda Moda, the South Korean producer of the world’s first coloring shampoo using the browning reaction in stale bananas, is seeking a breakthrough in overseas markets to sidestep cumbersome regulations at home. The company is revamping overseas operations to extend its sales network connecting the US, China and Japan. Korean beauty products are increasingly popular in these countries, riding high on the popularity of K-content. Unlike many other K-beauty brands that depend heavily on l

Industry May 20, 2022

Zigbang, a South Korean proptech startup, said Thursday it will launch a global metaverse office platform that allows closer virtual interaction among staffers working for companies in the world. Soma is named after the ‘South of Market’ neighborhood in San Francisco, the home ground of Twitter and Airbnb. Zigbang has high hopes to build a business complex in the metaverse for innovative global startups, according to a company official. The new platform is an upgraded version of M

Technology May 19, 2022

Amid the rise of the platform era where tech giants have a strong foothold based on their abundant resources, small companies must build a solid brand identity through digital branding and target a specific customer base, experts said Wednesday. “Big tech corporations such as Amazon wield enormous power over industries -- especially e-commerce, since they provide a simple but powerful platform with a wide range of purchase choices,” said Kim Byung-gyu, a business professor at Yonse

Technology May 18, 2022

Patricia Chun, general manager of WeWork Korea, said Tuesday that the company is considering launching its premium office service in the global market, driven by soaring demand for worker-friendly and customized official rental services. Launched on May 1, the WeWork premium service is available at its Seoul Square, Gangnam, Yeoiudo and Gwanghwamun branches. The firm plans to export the service to the global market including the United States. Among global WeWork branches, WeWork Korea

Industry May 17, 2022